Singled Out!
by Lentex
Summary: When Lincoln accidentally ruins a project that the Loud children have been working on for months, his sisters are more angry than ever before with him. They go out of their way to give Lincoln a hard time, and eventually even start physically harming him. After weeks of this abuse, Lincoln starts to wonder if he even belongs in the family.
1. Lincoln's Mistake

"It's finished!"

"Oh my God, finally!"

"Good work, guys!"

They were in the basement. It was the only place to work without their parents taking note. Almost in sync, the Loud children stepped back a few paces to admire their handiwork. In the middle of the pack of Louds was a beautiful handcrafted vase. It would make the _perfect_ gift for their parent's upcoming anniversary. Not only did it look amazing, but it had a familiar value to it too; each of the Loud children contributed in their own way. For example, Lori had driven to the pottery shop to have it heated and made solid, Lisa had done all of the measurements when sculpting it, Lana had gotten natural clay from right out of the earth from the lake—even Leni pitched in, picking out a decorative wrapping paper and bow.

Sure, some people had more important parts than others. Still, though, it was the thought that counted. The Loud parents would be overjoyed to know that each of their children contributed to the project in their own way.

Lori clapped her hands. "I'm sure they're going to love it!" She smiled. "Well, I'm going up to my room."

Agreement made its way around the Louds, and soon enough, they all began to make their way to the stairs to go on with their normal lives.

Life, however, would soon become anything _but_ normal.

* * *

"I don't know," said Clyde, shaking his head. "It just seems like such an unnecessary risk."

The two were walking side by side, coming home from school. The day was bright, and the sun shined strong.

"We just finished the vase yesterday," said Lincoln, "and I _really_ think I can make it even better. All I have to do is sneak to the basement when nobody's paying attention, open the box, and put some lights on it."

Clyde let out a sigh. "I mean, a vase with _lights?_ I've never heard of anything like it."

"It'd be cool," Lincoln defended. "I mean, it would light up at night and everything... why not?"

"What if you drop it?"

Lincoln stopped. Clyde walked a few steps ahead before noticing, and then he, too, halted in his track, turning around to look at Lincoln, confused.

Then, Lincoln _laughed_. His hands went to his chest, and he bellowed joyous laughter. Clyde looked on in bewilderment.

"Clyde," he said, still giggling, "sometimes, you can be so _silly._ "

Clyde shrugged. "I'm just thinking logically here. Any number of things can go wrong. Why not at least put on the lights with some help from your sisters? I mean, you said the vase was pretty heavy."

"It's not _that_ heavy," Lincoln said, but then quickly backpedaled. Actually, he _didn't_ know how heavy it was. Lynn did all the carrying, and now that he thought about it, even _she_ , the strongest Loud for her age, had a bit of difficulty. "I should be fine."

"If you insist, but I'd still get some help if I were you."

Starting to walk again, Lincoln waved his hand in dismissal. "Nonsense! I want to surprise my sisters, too."

Walking, too, Clyde shook his head. "I don't know, dude… but if you think you can pull this off, I won't argue."

The conversation was left at that for awhile. For some time after that, the two friends walked in silence.

Lincoln couldn't help but to find Clyde amusing. His friend could be such a worrywart sometimes. After all, he'd sometimes have to breathe in a paper bag just to get himself under control.

Then again, what if Lincoln _couldn't_ get away with this?

No, that was ridiculous. Clyde was just being Clyde, always being disquiet and timid. Lincoln liked Clyde a lot. They were best friends, after all, and they shared lots of interests and likes. But, sometimes, the white-haired boy couldn't help but to find his friend's antics amusing.

"You know what?" Lincoln said after a while. "If you're really this concerned about me, I'll let you help me."

"Oh? What do you want me to do?"

"Get on channel seven on your walkie-talkie tonight. You can guide me through the process."

Clyde nodded.

In due time, the two departed, and Lincoln made his way to the front door of his house. Before going inside, he turned around, sniffing the afternoon air. It was a beautiful day, appropriate for the current circumstances. Lincoln was going to make the Loud children's already amazing gift even better, and he'd impress his sisters in the process.

He liked making his sisters happy. Usually, engagements with Lincoln's siblings met fighting and arguments. They all loved each other, but, really, how easy was it to get along with one another when there were eleven of you living under the same roof? It was a welcome change of pace when they got along.

He went inside, passing past the usual scene of chaos. Luan was chasing Leni around with a plastic spider, Lori was having an argument on the phone, Lola was yelling at Luna for playing her music too loud, Dad was having trouble cooking dinner, one of his pots beginning to bubble up and make a mess… nothing was out of the ordinary. Lincoln would call it organized chaos, but this chaos was anything _but_ organized… no, a better word for it would be _canonical pandemonium_. He heard Lisa say that once, and she was smart.

Still, he loved his family, and wouldn't trade them for the world.

The day went by, Lincoln electing to spend most of it playing video games. Homework could wait. Nothing bad ever came of putting it off, right? He'd get to it… eventually. Dinner came and went, and before he knew it, Lincoln was watching the sun go down over the distant Michigan mountain scape through his small window in his linen closet bedroom.

It was now bedtime, but Lincoln needed to stay up. He had a task to accomplish.

But first, he would need to wait. Everyone was probably still awake, and getting caught was _not_ a part of his plan. He paced his room. He tossed a ball up in down in the air. He called Clyde.

"Come in, Clyde. This is Lincoln."

" _Link? Are we doing it already?_ "

"No, Clyde, but we will soon."

* * *

Lola Loud, an empty cup in her hand, groggily walked down the hallway, making her way to the stairs. She had run out of water, and was thirsty.

Every night, her father set a pink plastic cup with water on her nightstand. Usually, she didn't drink all of it, and when she did, she didn't want to drink any more water. Tonight, however, she was a little bit more thirsty than usual. Maybe it had something to do with the fact by being chased with a worm by Lana for a lot of the day.

She made her way down the staircase, walking down slowly as to not wake anyone up. Once in the kitchen, she grabbed a stepping stool from the cupboard underneath the sink. Being only six, she needed a little help to reach high places. Not that she was always supposed to, of course. Once, she stole a bunch of chocolate that Lincoln had stowed away for a school project. In her defence, though, she wasn't the only Loud girl that took some of the chocolate. They all did!

She dragged the stool across the kitchen floor and in front of the sink, stepping up onto it and pouring herself a drink. A little too proud of herself, she hopped down from the stool and began to gulp down the water.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. Somebody was coming down the stairs.

Lola froze in place, afraid. If she was caught sneaking out of her room during bedtime, would one of her siblings tattle on her? If the roles were reversed, _she_ sure would.

Her paralysis broke. As quickly as she could without making noise, Lola opened the kitchen cupboard under the sink and threw herself in, shutting the door behind her.

The Loud house had many, many repairs to be made. With thirteen people living in one place, even with Lana helping out, there was a lot of work to be done that nobody ever got around to doing, at least not for awhile. One of these jobs was to fix the small, narrow hole in the kitchen cupboard.

Lola pressed her head up against the inside of the cupboard, her cheeks squishing against the wood. She closed her left eye, allowing for better focus in her right; she strained to see who had interrupted her late night water run.

Lincoln, tiptoeing, came into the kitchen and quickly made his way to the basement staircase before going down.

Odd.

What was he doing?

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but a little investigative work never hurt Lola Loud. Still mindful of being quiet, she carefully exited the cupboard before making her way to the top of the basement staircase. The light was turned on, and she could faintly hear out Lincoln talking to somebody on the radio. The voice, however, was too faint to make out.

"Come in, slumberjack… yes, I'm in the basement… your job is to help me through this, remember? Two minds are better than one, Clyde."

So, he was talking to Clyde. What was Lincoln up to?

Being more careful than she had ever been in her life, Lola began to walk down the stairs, one by one, step by step. One wrong move and her cover was blown. Adrenaline took ahold of her. This was _exciting_. Is this what it felt like to be a spy?

At least, she reached the ground. She rushed to the other side of the room, hiding behind a cardboard box, her bare feet making very light patters on the cement floor. Still, Lincoln remained oblivious of his little sister's presence.

"Okay, Clyde, here goes nothing."

Lincoln began to walk across the room, heading straight past Lola. Her face went pale with fear as he walked by her. He was less than a foot away! Still, he didn't notice her. He was too focused on his task.

It took all of Lola's effort not to let out a giant sigh of relief. Quickly, she snuck to the other side of the cardboard box, once again hiding behind cover.

She watched on as her brother moved aside a few cardboard boxes. Soon, he revealed the vase.

" _Here's_ where Lynn put it!"

The vase? What was he doing?

Lola watched on as Lincoln grabbed onto the vase with both hands. His arms began to tremble as he attempted to lift it.

"T-This is heavier than I thought, Clyde."

In pure horror, mouth agape, Lola watched as Lincoln lifted up the vase, trying to put on the table. His grip, however, was weak. He faltered, stumbling backward, and in less than a second, it slipped from his grasp.

It fell to the ground, shattering into many pieces.

" _No!_ " he cried. Helplessly, he kneeled to the ground, trying to put the shattered remains back together in a desperate act. "Clyde…" he said. "I, uh, I gotta go."

Lola ran upstairs to gather her sisters and bring them down to the basement.

She had a plan, and it started here.

* * *

" _No, no, no!_ " muttered Lincoln. The vase that he and his siblings had worked on for over a month was in front of him, broken beyond repair. Once his sisters found out, he was dead meat.

Maybe he could get away with this. He could hide the pieces, throw them out or something. Nobody would know he broke it.

Then again, Lincoln didn't think he could live with the guilt of that. No, he had to confess. He'd do it tomorrow morning.

Suddenly, a stampede of angry Loud girls began to rush down the staircase. Once in the basement, they made a beeline straight to him.

Lincoln gulped.

"Do you know how _long_ we worked on that?" Luan.

"OhEm _Gosh!_ Linky really did shatter the vase?" Leni.

"Lincoln, you idiot!" Unknown. The crowd was beginning to merge into one giant, angry blob in Lincoln's frightened mind.

Slowly taking small steps backward was Lincoln, and slowly approaching him and closing the gap between them was his sisters. Quickly, however, he ran out of room. Lincoln's back was against the wall. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Sweating now, he held up and waved his hands while shaking his head. "G-guys, hear me out, you d-don't understand!"

Lynn rolled up her sleeves. "Oh, I _understand_ alright." She gritted her teeth. "For whatever stupid reason, you broke that vase, and now you're going to _pay_."

Lincoln closed his eyes. It was over. He was going to be mauled by nine angry sisters, many of whom were bigger and stronger than he was. If only they let him _explain_ himself. If only they calmed down and _talked_ this out.

But, no. They weren't going to give him the time of day. It _always_ ended up like this. Lincoln was _always_ being singled out. Maybe it had something to do with being the only boy in the family, maybe it had something to do with being a total spineless pushover. He was a white-haired, bucked tooth loser, and he _always_ paid the price for it. Whether it be the only one in the family being not told what sister fight protocol was, or the squirrel suit incident when they thought he was bad luck and even made him sleep in the backyard for a night, he was always the odd man out, the freak, the loser.

Now, he was going to be hurt. _Badly_ , probably. He had no hope of defense or escape. He was trapped, just like he always was, just like he always will be. The blob of Sister—no, not sister, but Sister, capital S—in front of him was closing in fast.

Unnoticed by the Loud girls, tears began to run down his cheeks.

" _Stop!_ "

Lincoln's eyes shot open, and his fears, just for a second, were put on hold. Right in front of him, facing the crowd of Sister, was Lola, holding her arms out as if to protect him. Was… was she rushing to his defence?

"What Lincoln did was stupid, selfish, and a waste of everyone's time for the past few weeks," she said, and paused. "But… but, what will beating him up right here and now do? No, I call a sister meeting. To Lori's room! _Now!_ "

Relief that was tidal in scope washed over Lincoln in an awesome wave. He had just narrowly escaped the beating of a lifetime. But… why? Why did Lola rush to his rescue? Out of all the Loud children, she had the absolute shortest temper.

The next few minutes went by in a daze. His vision was blurry, in part because he was in shock, in part because of the tears obstructing his vision. The blob of Sister went away, up the stairs, out of vision, leaving Lincoln behind, confused and scared for what the future would bring.

* * *

"Order, _order!_ "

Angry murmurs filled Lori's bedroom.

" _Listen_ ," said Lola, trying to speak loudly over the noise, but not loud enough to awake her parents downstairs. "I said, _listen!_ "

"What gives, dude?" said Luna, crossing her arms. "Lincoln broke the vase. Do you know how _long_ we spent on that thing?"

Lynn threw her arms up in anger. "Why didn't you let us get even?"

"You have some explaining to do," snapped Lori.

"While it is true that Lincoln broke the vase," said Lola, speaking over everyone else in the room, and it's also true that he deserves to be punished… I don't think attacking him is the best way to go about it."

For the first time since they piled in Lori's room, the Loud children grew silent.

"What do you say we do then?" asked Lucy, curious.

"Listen closely," said Lola, smiling. "I propose… a war?"

" _War?_ "

"Yup. Instead of just beating Lincoln up and having it all be done, we should mess with him for the next few days. Eat all of his favorite cereal, even if you don't like it. Stall extra long in the bathroom when he's next in line. Hide his stuff. You know, things like that."

Quiet murmurs made their way around the room as this was thought upon.

Eventually, Leni spoke up. "I don't know Lola. It seems kind of mean."

" _Mean?_ " Lola laughed. " _Mean_ is breaking a vase that we spent over a month working to make. _Mean_ is selfishly trying to get the best seat in the van during a road trip. _Mean_ is forcing everyone to "go green" for a school project while you use up a trillion watts of electricity yourself in the basement to play _videogames_ with friends!"

"Oh, no," said Luna, "We're bringing up stuff from the past, now?"

"Sure!" yelled Lola. "Why not? None of us are perfect, sure, but doesn't it always seem that _Lincoln_ causes the most problems for us?"

"I don't like where this is going, little dude. We can't single out Lincoln like that. He's our brother."

"Lincoln has a lesson to learn. If we teach it to him, we'd be doing him a _favor._ "

Nobody could argue with this logic.

Lynn stood. "I really wanted to throw Lincoln around a little down in the basement… but, I guess this is the next best thing. Maybe even a little better." A nefarious smile spread across her face.

Lola clapped. "That settles it Let's take a vote." She looked around the room, smiling. "Raise your hand if you support the war."

Immediately, Lynn, Lola, Luan, and Lori rose their hands.

"I'm not sure about this," admitted Lana, "but Lola's my twin, so I'll just take her side."

Lisa sighed. "I don't normally care for the family's banal affairs, but the prospect of using some of my more, erm, aggressive inventions on Lincoln in the name of war actually does interest me." She raised her hand. "I'm in."

"I _did_ spend lots of time working on that stupid vase," said Lucy, sighing. "Sure, I'll help."

That left just Luna and Leni, both of whom didn't appear to be comfortable with the prospect of a war with their little brother. Luna sat on Lori's bed, arms crossed, and Leni looked worried.

Lola huffed, and crossed her arms. "Well?"

"I… I guess, sure, whatever," said Luna. "Let's… let's just not go overboard."

Lola nodded. "Alright." She faced Leni. "Leni, that just leaves you."

Leni twiddled her thumbs. "I really don't think this is a good idea. I mean, like, Linky messed up and all, but do we really have to declare a _war_ on him?"

Lola approached Leni slowly, and then put her hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Leni," she said. "After this is over, Lincoln will learn his lesson, and things will go back to normal." Lola gently took her hand off on Leni's shoulder and gentle put her hand on her cheek, moving it so that she looked her younger sister in the eyes. "I promise _,_ " she said slowly.

Leni had no choice but to agree.

* * *

 **In August 2017, I uploaded chapter one of a fanfiction called "Singled Out". Over the next few months, I worked on and uploaded new chapters until it was finished. The story, in my opinion, was bad. Everything went downhill about halfway through. Needless subplots took time away from the main plot. The ending, too, was horrible.**

 **This story will have a very similar concept, but now that I have some writing experience under my belt and I've learned from the mistakes of the first Singled Out, I assure you that this fic will be much, much better.**

 **You have my word.**


	2. The Attack

It took Lincoln awhile to fall asleep that night.

Fear, they say, stems from uncertainty, the unknown. Lincoln was uncertain of the future. He broke the vase that he and his siblings had been working on for the better part of six weeks. Right there and then, he was positive that they would beat him up. His siblings were no strangers to roughhousing. When a dispute got particularly bad, such as the time when everyone had fought over the sweet spot in Vanzilla or when a fight broke out over money, it came to blows.

The strange thing, though, was that Lincoln walked out of the basement unharmed. Nobody had laid a finger on him. Instead, led by Lola, the siblings had made their way upstairs for a meeting. What were they _up_ to?

 _Nothing good,_ Lincoln thought.

He got up, stretched, and slowly, carefully, opened his bedroom door. At first, only a crack. He looked out into the hallway.

Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. There was a line for the bathroom; Luan was telling a joke to Lana, who was ignoring it, either because she didn't like Luan's puns or because she was too tired to bother paying attention. Lori, already, was on her phone, standing outside of her room. Despite the early hour, Lynn was running around the hallway, practicing parkour.

Lincoln left his room, half expecting to be attacked. Nothing, however, happened. He got in line for the bathroom, almost sure that immediately, he would be tackled or attacked in one way or another.

Behind Luan, he reached up and grabbed her nightgown and tugged on it. She turned.

"Luan?" he asked. "Uh, about that vase… are you, uh, mad at me?"

She chuckled softly. "Lincoln, don't worry about that now." She turned around.

Lincoln frowned.

Why was everyone acting so weird?

The day dragged on without incident. During history period, Lincoln pondered his situation at home. His sisters were ready to literally jump on him for his mistake, but after a meeting, everything returned completely back to normal. It didn't make sense. Something was off.

"Lincoln?" asked Mrs. Johnson. "Lincoln Loud?"

There was a moment of pure fear as Lincoln jumped up in his seat, startled.

"Uh, sorry," he stumbled. "What was the question?"

Mrs. Johnson sighed. "Next time, Lincoln, try to pay attention."

He nodded.

"I asked what made the battle of Shiloh such a bloody fight. Do you know, Lincoln?"

He thought for a moment. "The Confederates took the Union by surprise," Lincoln said. "They didn't see it coming. They got an early advantage."

"Very good, Lincoln."

An early advantage was key to winning a war, as Lincoln would soon find out firsthand.

* * *

"I'm sorry we don't have an anniversary present for you," said Lori. She looked across the dinner table at Lincoln. " _Lincoln_ broke it into a bunch of pieces."

Lincoln blushed and looked down at his meal.

"Lincoln," asked Rita, "is that true?"

Still looking down, he nodded.

"Aw, that's okay son," Lynn said, forking some broccoli into his mouth. "Mistakes happen. I'm sure whatever it was, it was something amazing. You didn't mean to break it, did you?"

He shook his head quickly. "No, I just picked it up and it… it just sort of fell out of my hands. It was heavier than I thought... I'm sorry."

Luan shifted in her chair. "We're going to remake it, though," she said, "I'm just sorry that we couldn't get it to you on your anniversary."

"It's fine, really," assured Rita.

* * *

Lincoln opened his eyes and stretched. The sun shined through his small window. It was morning.

As soon as he got out of his bed and stood on his floor, he began to stumble, trying desperately to keep his balance, fighting for purchase. Eyes wide, he looked down. His bedroom floor was _covered_ in balls—soccer balls, baseballs, golf balls, basketballs, tennis balls—and then, quickly, he fell to the ground. He let out a painful _ouch!_ as he hit the floor.

This could only be the work of Lynn. For whatever reason, she must have had snuck in at night and dumped her sports bag onto Lincoln's floor.

Wait a minute. Lincoln put a lock on his bedroom door last night. It may have been a paranoid thing to do, but given how unnaturally unhostile his sisters had been acting for the past couple of days, he wanted to feel safe at night.

So, how did she get in?

There was only one explanation; Leni. Sure, she could be a ditz a lot of the time, but there was still more than just air in her head. She could design complex outfits, after all. Pick locks, too, as was made evident by the fact that Lynn had managed to sneak into Lincoln's room last night.

Lincoln rubbed his back. It hurt a bit, but it was nothing too serious. He'd be able to get through the day.

Slowly, he began to try opening his door. There was still a good chance that angry sisters were on the other side of it, after all. The bedroom door, however, would not budge. Confused, Lincoln began to pull on the doorknob harder and hard. It still, however, would not come open.

On the other side of the door, unknown to Lincoln, was the entirety of Luna's speakers. Once she heard him trying to get out, she knew it was time.

Lincoln, unprepared, was assaulted immediately with _loud_ electric guitar riffs. His natural reaction was to let out a high pitched scream, but the music was so loud that he was unable to hear this. Closing his eyes tight and quickly moving his hands to block his ears, he stumbled backward.

"Luna!" came the Loud father's voice from downstairs. "Stop playing so loud!"

The music stopped, but Lincoln was still trapped in his room. He looked at the clock on his wall and went pale with fear. He only had ten minutes to get fully ready for school.

"Hey!" he cried. "Let me out!"

His plea fell on deaf ears. Nervous, he began to pace. He needed to think of a way to get out of this situation. He was the man with the plan, after all. If anyone could escape, it was him. He couldn't miss school. It wasn't an option.

He smiled and snapped his fingers as an idea to came to mind. He got dressed as fast as he could. He'd have to skip breakfast and brushing his teeth. Next, quickly, not wanting to waste time, he began to tighten his bed sheets into thick and long rope. Next, he fashioned each one together, making a single line.

Lincoln tied one end to his bed, and threw the other out the window. There was a moment of fear as he jumped up and grabbed the ledge, looking down. Even though he was only two stories off of the ground, from where he was, it seemed like a dozen.

 _I_ have _to do this,_ he thought. _I'll get to school on time. I'll beat them at their own game._

Swallowing his fear, Lincoln closed his eyes and threw one foot, and two, out the window.

 _I can't believe I'm doing this!_

He went down slowly, putting one hand beneath the other. A gust of cold morning wind went past him, and he tightened his grip in fear of being blown off.

 _This is crazy I shouldn't be doing this it's dangerous oh God what if I fall this is not safe oh my lord why did I think this was a good idea—_

Then, he fell. He was clutching the rope tightly, but that no longer mattered. As Lincoln's eyes went wide with fear, and as he fell down to the earth back first, looking up, he saw Luna looking out of the window, a mischievous smile on her face.

How the heck did she untie the rope that fast? Lincoln tied it as tight as he could. It would take anybody at least a couple of minutes to unfasten it!

Then, he saw why. In her hands, Luan held her ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Coconuts. His teeth were sharp. She _cut_ the rope!

Time moved slowly as Lincoln fell down to the earth. He had only moved a few feet down the rope before it was cut, so the fall for him was about two stories.

Closing his eyes tight, bracing for impact, Lincoln hit the ground like a truck. Pain rippled throughout his body, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt as he'd expected.

He couldn't stay on the ground forever. He had a job to do. Lincoln stood up, faltered forward a bit due to his blurry vision, but quickly regained his balance. He dusted himself off, a small cloud of dirt forming and then quickly floating away in the morning wind.

 _Bang!_ He didn't see it coming. Lola, in her pink jeep, hit him head on from behind. Her car may have been a toy for little kids, but between Lana's constant upgrades on it, and Lola's skilled driving, it might as well have been a tractor.

Lincoln flew forward, catching air. His face hit the ground first, and because he still had a lot of momentum, his entire body dragged forward through the mud before eventually slowing down and stopping.

He was wet, muddy, and miserable.

Without looking back, Lincoln stood and booked it. He ran away from the house, going as fast as he could to get to school so that he could make it on time. Even at his quick rate, he would barely make it.

* * *

Lori, from out of her bedroom window, watched on as Lincoln ran off of the lawn and down the sidewalk.

She sighed, turning to Leni.

"Well… we did it."

Leni forced a smile. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"He's going to school wet, muddy, and without his backpack… cheers." Lori didn't sound happy about what had just happened.

Next, the rest of the Loud girls began to walk into the room.

"Success!" cried Lola, clapping. "We did it!"

Luna sighed, throwing herself face down on Leni's bed. "Yeah, sure, but did he _deserve_ that? I mean, breaking that vase was careless and everything, but it was still an accident."

"Yeah, I guess," said Luan, shrugging. "But it's not just about the vase, remember? Lincoln is always messing up. This lesson has been a long time coming."

"We're…" started Leni. "we're, like, not doing anything like this again, right?"

"Negative," said Lisa. "That is, so long as Lincoln learned what he needed from this."

" _Yeah!_ " cried Lana, celebrating. " _Nobody_ messes with the Loud girls!"


	3. Windy Day

As Lincoln walked up the stairs of his school, the last winds came gently, and he felt a coldness as they blew against his wet shirt. The sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the day were dissipated. The sun flared down, and the clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more.

"Dude," said Clyde, his eyes widening as Lincoln approached. "You look like a _mess._ "

Every morning, the two friends met outside the main entrance of the school, and every morning, they walked in together.

Not stopping, Lincoln walked on quickly into the school.

Clyde jogged to catch up to his friend. "You're not gonna say anything? Are you not going to tell me what happened this morning?"

Lincoln, now at his locker, opened it and began to grab what he needed for the start of the day. Most of his books and papers were at home in his backpack, however, and as he was reminded of this, a new wave of anger swept over him.

"Lincoln…?"

He slammed the locker shut before wheeling over to face Clyde.

" _What?_ " he said loudly, almost yelling.

"Whoa, buddy. Easy, now."

"Clyde, if you couldn't tell," said Lincoln, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and stretching it out so Clyde could clearly see the mess, "I'm not having the best day right now. So, I'd _appreciate_ it if you could give me some space."

With that, he stormed off.

Clyde sighed as he watched him go. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Ronnie Anne.

"What's _his_ problem?" she asked.

"Oh, he's having problems at home. With his sisters."

"Uh-oh," she said, amused. "What are they doing to lame-o? Hiding his dolls from him? Staining his underwear so he can't wear them on the outside of his pants anymore?" She snickered.

"No, he broke a vase that they all made together and now they're really mad at him."

"They let him go to school looking like _that_ because of a vase?"

"Yeah, I guess. He didn't have his backpack, either." He sighed. "It was pretty important to them, I guess. They spent a long time working on it."

The conversation started with amusement for Ronnie Anne, but that amusement was quickly dissipating in favor of anger.

"I've put sandwiches in his pants," she said, "but doing that to him is really crossing the line." She cracked her knuckles.

Clyde shook his head. "Poor dude, it must be tough dealing with ten angry sisters."

Ronnie Anne was in a different class, so the two said goodbye and parted ways. As Clyde went into the classroom, he noticed Lincoln getting odd looks from the rest of their classmates. Quickly, he took his seat, not wanting to bother Lincoln again. Not when he was angry.

"Okay, class," Mrs. Johnson said, walking in the room. "I hope you all brought your homework."

Clyde didn't really know how to interact with Lincoln when he was mad.

He usually never got mad.

"As you all know, we're starting our civil war unit today. We'll begin with the basics. Can anyone tell me why many of the Southern states broke off from the union?"

Clyde couldn't help but to feel partially responsible for Lincoln's current situation. After all, he didn't try stopping his friend when he proposed the idea of putting lights on the vase. It was a stupid idea. First, why would you need a string of lights of a _vase_? Sure, it might be cool to turn it on at night, but wouldn't it just look like a mangled mess during the day? Clyde imagined it would appear as if somebody tried putting barbed wire around it to prevent theft.

Penelope shot her hand up.

"They thought that they were being treated unfairly," she said. "They felt oppressed, and they had enough."

Second of all, Lincoln was a weakling. Clyde didn't think poorly for him because of it or anything. In fact, he, too, was pretty weak. Still, he allowed Lincoln to go ahead with his idea. He even guided him through it over their walkie-talkie… well, at least up until the point where the vase shattered. Clyde shook his head in shame.

"That's right, Penelope. Do you know what the first battle of the war was?"

Clyde felt bad for Lincoln. He noticed that Ronnie Anne, however, had a bit of a different reaction. She seemed pretty angry about the whole ordeal. Clyde gulped. Was she planning to do something about it? He certainly hoped not. If she fought Lincoln's sisters… bad things would happen.

For everyone involved.

"Uh, the battle of Gettysburg?"

One seat ahead of Clyde, covered in mud and water, Lincoln sulked.

 _It's not fair,_ he thought angrily. _I broke a_ vase _, and they make me slip on balls? They block my bedroom door? They hit me with a car?_

"No, but good guess, Penelope. Gettysburg was the deadliest battle of the war, but not the first one."

Lincoln's anger galvanized him. He was done sitting by while he got stepped on by his sisters. He was going to _do_ something about it this time. In the past, they took over his room, ruined his sheets, and blocked him from getting a snack in the kitchen or even from going to the bathroom during a "sister fight protocol". When he accidentally left a message on Lori's phone, she deleted it without listening to it and told him never to call her again. When he tried getting out of going to _one_ of Lynn's baseball games, she forced him with a bat to come. When he was trying to win the school video competition, he learned that Luan had been recording his most embarrassing moments and storing them in her closet without his permission.

There were countless more examples. Lincoln was sick of it.

He was going to put an end to it, starting today.

"The first engagement was at Fort Sumter. It was the beginning of a very long and costly war for both sides that has gone down as the most gruesome conflict in our nation's history."

* * *

Ronnie Anne Santiago was _mad_.

When she first moved to Royal Woods at nine years old, she didn't have many friends. She was in a place, a new town, a new country. She wore her purple hoodie wherever she went, always keeping her hands in its pockets. She didn't talk to many people. When she did, she asserted her authority.

"What are _you_ doing?" she once asked to a child on the park swing set.

"S-Swinging."

She held her thumb up, pointing behind her back. "Scram. I want it."

"B-But… there's more swings." This was true. The child was the only one swinging, and three more swings were available.

"Did you _hear_ me? I told you to get out of here!"

The child quickly jumped down and ran away.

Ronnie Anne swung there for awhile, alone. She didn't go high or fast. She swung back and forth slowly, staying close to the ground. It wasn't that she was afraid of swinging high. In fact, if she wanted to, she could probably swing higher than anyone else in town her age. No, it because she didn't feel like it. She felt sad, alone. She had a hard time getting along with other kids. The only thing she could count on was her ability to intimidate, so she did so, even if it only made her problem worse.

After a while, she got off, walking around again aimlessly. She balled up her hands and kept them deep in her hoodie pockets.

Eventually, she came to a sandbox. Inside, a boy was playing with an assortment of action figures. Ronnie Anne had to do a double take at him. He was about the same age as her, but he had white hair. She had never seen anything like it before.

"Shoo," she said, waving him away. "I want to play here."

He looked up at her, inquisical.

"Did you hear me? I told you to scram."

The boy remained sitting still. He held his arm up, offering an action figure to her. "Do you want to play with me? You can be One-Eyed Jack."

Ronnie Anne was more confused than angry.

"I don't get it. Why aren't you afraid of me?"

He looked back down at his action figures. "I have sisters that will protect me from anything."

"From anything?"

"From anything."

That was how she first met Lincoln. Back then, he was so proud and confident in his sisters… now, they were attacking him? They thought it was okay to let him go to school wet and covered in filth?

When they became closer friends earlier in the year, Ronnie Anne had promised Lincoln to do her best controlling her anger and keeping her fists out of other people's faces. It was a bad habit, he said. Could get you in trouble.

It was good advice, and she liked Lincoln, she really did. So, she did what he asked her to do. She kept herself out of trouble. She stopped going to the Principal's office, which used to be a regular occurrence for her. Her grades even went up.

Now, though, that promise had to be broken. She was going to Lincoln's house over school, and she was going to make sure his sisters got some sense knocked into them.

* * *

The elementary school bell rang, and Lola Loud walked out of the school's front doors. She went to wait at the curb where Lori usually picked up. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she soon spotted Lincoln. Just like in the morning, he was a mess—wet and muddy, yuck. His teacher must have noticed, and she would probably be calling home. He didn't have his backpack, either.

A strong gust of wind blew by, and Lola had to push down on her tiara to keep it from falling off. She repositioned it in her hair so that it stayed on her head.

Lori pulled up, the van screeching as she put her foot down on the brake pedal. Lola opened the door and hopped in the car.

Lincoln looked up and at the van. Most days, he walked home with Clyde so that they could talk, but sometimes, he took the van with Lori and the others. Today, especially, taking Vanzilla home would be nice. It was windy, and he was wet and cold. Muddy, too, and that wasn't a good combination.

He looked away, though, and walked on. He had a war to fight.

Starting as soon as he got home.


	4. With Friends Like These

Ronnie Anne had never really been one for action figures, but the kid was offering one to her, and it would be rude to say no.

"So… what's his name?" she asked, holding a plastic figure of a man with an afro and eyepatch.

"He's One-Eyed Jack," the boy said. "Be careful, he's one of my favorites."

They played around the park for some time after that. Many children, fearing Ronnie Anne, fled quickly as she approached, leaving whatever part of the playground she and Lincoln wanted to play at free to themselves.

"Why are they running from us?" he asked.

Ronnie Anne didn't want to lose her new friend, and she feared that telling the truth to him would make him fear her. That wasn't going to happen. Not this soon.

"I, uh, I'm sick. They don't want to catch my disease."

His eyes widened, but he did not move away. "You're _sick?_ Will I get sick too, then?"

"No, no, no," she said quickly, shaking her head quickly. "I-It doesn't affect people with white hair."

Lincoln hopped on a swing. "Oh, that's good."

They played for awhile longer, Ronnie Anne having fun the whole time. She made her first real friend. He didn't fear her, but nor did he bully her like some of the kids in her old town. They picked on her for acting like a boy, for having weird hair, for wearing weird shoes… she got so sick of it, she started to insult them back. Eventually, words led to physical conflict, and Ronnie Anne found out that she was a natural at fighting.

Of course, it isn't necessarily a good thing. One day, when things got extra heated, she broke a kids nose and got expelled from her school at only five years old. Her family had to move to a new town, which wasn't exactly easy because of their financial situation.

Over the hill, Ronnie Anne watched on as a girl ran over to the swingset.

"Lincoln!" she cried. "Get away from that girl! She's a bully!"

"Huh?"

Without a choice, the girl pulled Lincoln off of the swing and started to drag him away from the swing set.

"No! She's my fr—"

His protests were fruitless, though. He was dragged off, and Ronnie Anne did not speak with him for a long, long time after that. Not until 5th grade, when Lincoln's sisters had forgotten who she was or what had happened that day at the park.

She was young, and now, Ronnie Anne was foggy on the memory. She knew it was one of Lincoln's older sisters, but she forgot exactly which one it was.

Presently, Ronnie Anne was standing in front of the Loud residence. Now, the tables have turned. This time, it was going to be _her_ to protect Lincoln. He broke a vase, so what? It was a lame-o thing to do, sure, but was it really worth sending your brother to school a sorry mess? No, it wasn't. Not in the slightest.

That's why, here and now, she was taking action. Ronnie Anne didn't know exactly what she was gonna do, but she was _mad_ , and she wanted to teach a much needed lesson to the loud girls.

She stormed down the pathway, and up to the front door. She knocked aggressively.

Eventually, Luan Loud opened the door.

"Hey," Ronnie Anne said, her arms folded. "Lincoln was all muddy this morning. What gives?"

Luan shrugged her shoulders. "How should I know? He probably fell in mud on his way to school."

"Doesn't he usually get a ride with the rest of you guys?"

Luan frowned. "Look, I don't have time to play twenty questions out here. Goodbye."

She began to close the front door, but Ronnie Anne blocked it with her foot.

"Answer my question," she said slowly.

"Did you hear me? I said, _goodbye_."

Luan forced the door shut, pinching Ronnie Anne's foot in the process. Pain erupted in her right foot, and she quickly pulled it out and held it up.

"Ow, _ow!_ "

She growled lowly. Oh, that was _it._ She was done playing games.

She went across the Loud family yard, picking up a rough, sizeable rock on her way. Once on the sidewalk, she held her arm back, and, anger fueling her, chucked it with all her might through the window.

Now, a smart person, or even just a person not blinded by rage, would think what Ronnie Anne did was stupid. She could have at least first tried to knock again, or wait until the parents came home to have a reasonable discussion about what happened to Lincoln.

Still, even when she looks back on it weeks later, Ronnie Anne has no regrets. She needed to get to Lincoln's sisters and make sure they knew what they did to him that morning was _wrong._ If some glass gets shattered… oh well.

Screams of terror could be heard clearly from inside the house, and before long, the door opened. Lori, with many of the other Loud girls following in tow, ran at Ronnie Anne.

"You _idiot!_ " Luna yelled, holding her arms out, ready to strangle her.

Ronnie Anne smiled and spit on to the grass, getting ready. It was a four versus one fight, but no matter the odds, she would give it her all. The younger sisters were away at the moment, but the ones that were at home, the ones currently _charging_ at her, were still overwhelming in number.

She couldn't lie. Seeing that many angry sisters charge at you all at once was pretty damn _scary._ If she, a fire-and-nails type of gal who was ready to fight, was this scared by the mass, then how did _Lincoln_ feel? He was a timid and sensitive little boy. He must have been _modified_ the night that he broke the vase and heard the footsteps above of his siblings.

That thought made Ronnie Anne all the more angry, and she raised her fists to fight.

* * *

The sound of sneakers on polished wood was a joyous sound to Lynn. It was the last period of the day at Royal County Middle School, and it was gym class.

They were playing basketball, and Lynn's team was up by six points. During basketball season, on her normal basketball team, Lynn was a team player. She learned to be one after experiencing firsthand what it was like to sit by while one or two of your teammates did all the work.

Here, though, in gym class, when the team only consisted of random kids from her grade, Lynn liked to show _off._ She gave it her all, scoring goal after goal, not stopping for anything.

That was, until, a ball bonked her from out of nowhere right on top of the head.

It hit _hard._ Lynn faltered before falling to the gym floor on her butt. _Ow._

She rubbed her head, and her vision was blurry. When it cleared, she saw a barrage of classmates running to her.

"Lynn!"

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Getting an injury from sports was not uncommon, and Lynn wasn't about to sit by and be babied by her peers.

"I'm fine guys, _really_ ," she said, standing.

The gym teacher approached. "Maybe you should go to the nurse," he suggested, crossing his arms.

"I'm fine."

He shrugged. "If you insist."

The game continued, but Lynn had lost her mojo. She wasn't able to score even a single goal after it. Her team still won, but she was fuming by the end of class nonetheless.

She started to make her way to the girl's changing room, but a familiar voice arrested her attention before she went in.

"Hey! Lynn!"

She turned, and saw her white-haired brother looking back at her from the indoor gym bleachers. What was _Lincoln_ doing here? He didn't even go to this school! Did he walk all the way over here? He must have. Lori wouldn't drive him, not during the war.

"What the heck do you want?" Lynn said, approaching,

Lincoln hopped down from the bleachers. "I just wanted to walk home with you. I need to, uh, I need to talk."

Lynn raised an eyebrow. What the heck did he want to talk about?

"Okay, sure," she said after briefly milling over the idea in her head. "But you better not pull a fast one on me. I guess we're in a war and everything with each other, but if you need to hear me something, I'll listen… just this once."

He smiled. "Good. After you're ready, we can—"

Lynn's phone rang. She held up a finger to Lincoln.

"One second," she said, fishing it out of her pocket. She answered. "Hello?"

It was Lori's voice. What she said went by in a blur, and Lynn only remembered a few phrases, only because she had said them multiple times:

 _On the ground. Ronnie Anne. Red. Need help. Blood. Get home, now._


End file.
